Writers At Risk

PEN’s bedrock work is long-term advocacy on behalf of individual writers who are being persecuted because of their work. This page features our highest priority cases. With the help of our members and supporters, we are carrying out campaigns to win their release and ensure they are safe and can write and publish freely.

Take a moment to share information about these writers and take action on their behalf. This is only a small sampling of writers under threat around the world.

Svetlana Slapsak, a Serb from Belgrade, is the author of the hugely popular novel Leon and Leonine. Slapsak has written articles criticizing Serbian nationalism and decrying injustices perpetrated by…More

Alert Us

Cameroonian journalist Samuel Wazizi, who was arrested in August for criticizing the government's handling of a separatist revolt, has died in detention, rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said. Read more about it here: https://bit.ly/2UeRkIY

Mexicans have responded with outrage after a man was found beaten to death hours after he was arrested by police officers for not wearing a face mask in public. Anti-police protests erupted on Thursday in Guadalajara, the country’s second-largest city. https://bit.ly/2UeRcJu